Hospitals Begin Data-Mining Patients

schwit1 (797399) sends word of a new and exciting use for all of the data various entities are collecting about you. From the article: You may soon get a call from your doctor if you've let your gym membership lapse, made a habit of ordering out for pizza or begin shopping at plus-sized stores. That's because some hospitals are starting to use detailed consumer data to create profiles on current and potential patients to identify those most likely to get sick, so the hospitals can intervene before they do. Acxiom Corp. (ACXM) and LexisNexis are two of the largest data brokers who collect such information on individuals. They say their data are supposed to be used only for marketing, not for medical purposes or to be included in medical records. While both sell to health insurers, they said it's to help those companies offer better services to members.

Comments

Donut want

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks a lot autocorrect. Now my insurance premiums are going up.

Anathetic?

[khr]

Is data mining patients done under local or general anesthetic?

Re:Doesn't give warm fuzzies

[ichthus]

You're so full of shit it's coming out of your mouth...

No, you're full of shit. And, to prove it, I'll now provide exactly twice as much evidence as you did to the contrary:


...

Re:Doesn't give warm fuzzies

[I'm New Around Here]

My doctor says it is more about the ratio between the two. You want to have a 6:1 ratio of HDL to LDL. Total amount of each isn't so important.

But that was a VA doctor, so maybe I'm just lucky to be alive. ;^)